MYBLOG by Ouriel

Like Wine? Discover The Israeli Wine Blog

One thing that surprised me when i arrived in Israel was the quality of the wine produced here. I still had in mind the Kosher Wine we were drinking at home  and i was convinced that the best wine is non Kosher. Actually i still am, but i have discovered really great wines made in Israel. Below an advertising for Barkan Reserve, a very good wine i recently discovered and available for a reasonable price

 

I bumped into a good blog  called The Israeli Wine Blog dedicated to Israeli wine that is well written and documented. Check it out

Here is a list of top10 israeli wines

It mentions a Special Israeli Wine event called IsrawineExpo that looks interesting i will try to attend

Technorati Tags: wine, israel, blog

Israelis non-HighTech business successes Abroad

In matters of business, Israel is not only good at exporting high tech successes. Since i arrived in this country i am observing more brands being present successfully abroad. A few examples

:: Food: Israel makes on of the best cafe in the world. ArCaffe one the israeli network has open in the heart of Paris a successful shop. Max Brenner, a local chocolate bar, is also expanding both in the US and Australia. It is a matter of time before some of the other coffee networks (Espresso Bar, CafeCafe, ..) will gun for global expansion (specially the USA addicted to the StarBucks coffee soup)

:: Cosmetics: Ahava is a case study for Israelis on how to build a strong unique international brand from Israel. This cosmetic company makes beauty products from the dead sea and sells worldwide (even can hire international stars like L'Oreal does)

:: TV shows: Hakatsefet a TV game was licensed (to Endemol i think)internationally. Now The TV series Betipul will be adapted by Mark Whalberg (actor and producer of Entourage) for HBO. Below the trailer of upcoming "in Treatment"

 

:: update Music : How could i forget the field that is most important to me with the Internet. There are International Music stars coming from Israel. Not always famous in Israel. But pretty famous abroad. Specially in Jazz. Avishai Cohen (Bass), Avishai Cohen (Trumpet), my friend Yaron Herman (piano)  Yael Naim (Very well known in France, song voice of MacBook Air Ad and totally unknown in Israel) and Anat Cohen (sax). In classical music the list is also noteworthy: Itzhak Perlman, Daniel Barenboim, Shlomo Mintz, ..

There are certainly more examples (when i was in eastern Europe i saw shops by Kenvelo) and this is a strong indicator that, although not as obvious as it may be, we have in Israel a strong know-how in building international brands and not only high-tech.

Because of the small size and multi-cultural nature of this country i even think we have some of the best resources and brains in order to produce world class products and address international markets.

More examples will come soon, i am sure

Technorati Tags: israel, marketing, betipul, hbo, arcaffe, ahava, business

Enough of PopCorn breaks in movie Theaters

Yes i know, there are more important things to do in life. But i just had enough yesterday because i really feel fooled.

I think the petition i created against Movie Theathers Pop Corn break is illustrating how little those companies are paying attention to their customers. If you think this is useful please sign it here. I ll make sure it is distributed to the right personns. Here is the text of the petition

We, as paying customers, have enough to be hostages of Movie Theaters companies that decide to impose a Pop Corn break in a middle of a movie. And for that matter we wish to complain

We are paying money to come to see a movie from beginning to the end and do not want to be interrupted in the middle of it only for the benefit of a minor number of customers going to buy PopCorn, which they can do anyway without a break if this is so desperate. Please take the time to count how many personns really take advantage of this break. Listen to your customers

Moreover most of the time when the movie does not start again right where it stopped and the "mood" and magic is totally broken.

We urge to stop that practice with no delay. A few countries like France respect their customers

Let us view the movie we paid for. Do not tell us how we should view it. Or if you want to finance your activity by Pop Corn breaks, offer free entrance to your customers

 Digg the Petition if you think it’s worth

Tags: petition, popcorn, break, movies

The hummus blog

No this is not a joke. A whole blog dedicated to Hummus

This blog is about Hummus, regardless of sex, race, religion or color. It is about the love for Hummus and the things you can do with it - including making it yourself. We‘ll share with you our recipes, amaze you with some uncommon Hummus trivia facts, and suggest recommended restaurants where you can eat Hummus throughout the world.

Thanks Alain for the Tip

My ShakShuka recipe

I am asked all the time how i cook the ShakShuka (real pic above). Very easy. 20/30 min preparation

• 1 white onion
• Garlic
• 1 red pepper (option add 1 green pepper but not for me)
• 1 cup of sugar
• concentrate of tomatoe
• 2 tomates
• 4 eggs (2/personn)
• olive oil
• Parsley, cumin, pepper, salt
• 1 large pan

1. Cut onion and fry with the garlic (half garlic). add salt/pepper/cumin. Get the onion white/brown
2. Add fresh tomatoe and red pepper after 10 min. add also half cup of water
3. cook heavy fire for 5 min and then small fire
4. add concentrate of tomatoe 5 tea spoon
5. add 2 tea spoon of sugar, salt and pepper again (taste all the time)
6. add some olive oil on top and then put the 4 eggs
7. eggs start to cook become white. Finish the cooking by putting the pan in the grill mode of your oven for 3 min
8. add freshly cut parsley and serve hot with pita bread

you can also serve it cold. Add other ingredients (sausages, cherry tomatoe) In any case recommanded a good red wine.

Dinner in the sky: DISRUPTIVE RESTAURANT

A restaurant in the air. Disruptive and exciting. Who get those crazy ideas?

Find out more here.

thanks alain for the tip

Loic next week in Israel

My friend Loic, who is also a world class star blogger, will be in Israel next week for a seminar and a conference.

Something tells me he’s not coming only for business and that we might have some fun. Isn’t it Loic?

Happy to see he liked he last stay last year and he is coming back a second time

Maybe a few podcasts to relate all that :)

Ps: loic was just interviewed by Haaretz

Put AGENDA on your agenda

I discovered AGENDA yesterday a very nice restaurant in Tel Aviv Port open one week ago.

It is located in a perfect spot right in front of TLV, the largest nightclub in TLV. They really cared for the design and if you did not look at the menu, you would never guess this is a “Chipudim” (barbecue meat) place.

Usually such restaurants like mythic 206 o Itzik Hagadol are old fashioned (that also their charm). But this one is real trendy. The interior design is quite nice. They even added flat tv screens in the men’s room. Roof is high and it is have plenty of space to seat around inside or outside, far from the crowded atmosphere of usual meat places. And this does not mean prices are high at all.

They added a VIP room at the second floor with LCD screen for private of business events.

I don’t have to bet this is going to be a hit and if you hang around don’t miss it.

tags technorati : israel restaurant

HOW EXPRESSO COFFEE SHOULD BE SERVED

I just wanted to share with you guys the pleasure i have to drink a good espresso.

It is very rare, even in Italy, that espresso is served as it should: a nice handy espresso cup + glass of cold sparkling water and finally an adapted small spoon to mix the sugar without difficulties as shown in this picture below

shot at cafe nina in Tel aviv

It is certainly in Israel where i have had so far the best one

tags technorati : espresso good coffee

OKTOBERFEST 2005

 

I was invited to Oktoberfest in Munich a few month ago. It is really a fun event: beer+music+beer+music+beer+music. Below a video where i feature among serious beer drinkers in one of the biggest "tent", the hippodrom (5000 entries officially 10.000 in reality...)

tags technorati : oktoberfest 2005 beer tent